Elihu Root

“War was forced upon mankind in his original civil and social condition.”

“Nobody knows through how many thousands of years fighting men have made a place for themselves while the weak and peaceable have gone to the wall.”

“The mere assemblage of peace loving people to interchange convincing reasons for their common faith, mere exhortation and argument to the public in favor of peace in general fall short of the mark.”

“The methods of peace propaganda which aim at establishing peace doctrine by argument and by creating a feeling favorable to peace in general seem to fall short of reaching the springs of human action and of dealing with the causes of the conduct which they seek to modify.”

“The line of least resistance in the progress of civilization is to make that theoretical postulate real by the continually increasing force of the world's public opinion.”

“There is so much of good in human nature that men grow to like each other upon better acquaintance, and this points to another way in which we may strive to promote the peace of the world.”

“Claims of right and insistence upon obligations may depend upon treaty stipulations, or upon the rules of international law, or upon the sense of natural justice applied to the circumstances of a particular case, or upon disputed facts.”

“The wolf always charges the lamb with muddying the stream.”

“It is to be observed that every case of war averted is a gain in general, for it helps to form a habit of peace, and community habits long continued become standards of conduct.”

“In the first place, when there is a policy of intentional aggression, inspired by a desire to get possession of the territory or the trade of another country, right or wrong, a pretext is always sought.”

“The popular tendency is to listen approvingly to the most extreme statements and claims of politicians and orators who seek popularity by declaring their own country right in everything and other countries wrong in everything.”

“Men do not fail; they give up trying.”

“The law of the survival of the fittest led inevitably to the survival and predominance of the men who were effective in war and who loved it because they were effective.”

“It is not uncommon in modern times to see governments straining every nerve to keep the peace, and the people whom they represent, with patriotic enthusiasm and resentment over real or fancied wrongs, urging them forward to war.”

“Prejudice and passion and suspicion are more dangerous than the incitement of self-interest or the most stubborn adherence to real differences of opinion regarding rights.”

“Cruelty to men and to the lower animals as well, which would have passed unnoticed a century ago, now shocks the sensibilities and is regarded as wicked and degrading.”

“To deal with the true causes of war one must begin by recognizing as of prime relevancy to the solution of the problem the familiar fact that civilization is a partial, incomplete, and, to a great extent, superficial modification of barbarism.”

“Secretary of War Stanton used to get out of patience with Lincoln because he was all the time pardoning men who ought to be shot.”

“Honest people, mistakenly believing in the justice of their cause, are led to support injustice.”

“The theoretical postulate of all diplomatic discussion between nations is the assumed willingness of every nation to do justice.”